Method of jointly manufacturing carbureted water gas and volatile hydrocarbon motor fuels



Nov. 30 1926. 1,609,023

ED WATER GAS AND VOLATILE HYDROCARBON MOTOR FUELS F. A. HOWARD METHOD OF JOINTLY MANUFACTURING CARBURET Filed March 24,

Patented Nov. 30, 1926.

UNITED; STATES 1,609,023 PATENT orurcs.

FRANK A. HOWARD, OF ELIZABETH, NEW ERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO STANDARD DEVELOP- MENT COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

METHOD OF .J'OINTLY MANUFACTURING CARBURE'IED WATER GAS AND VOLATILE HYDROCARBON MOTOR FUELS.

Application filed March 24, 1921. Serial No. 455,200.

F. to 800 F., are well adapted for gas manufacture by cracking. This process is usually carried out in connection with the manufacture of blue gas or water gas, in which case the oil is vaporized and cracked in one part of a combination apparatus, another part of which is employed for furnishing the heat for the entire operation and for making the water gas by alternately serving as.

a gas producer and as a water gas generator. it is characteristic of this process that the cracking of the 011 1s carried on in an atmosphere of blue gas, thatis, an atmosphere of which hydrogen represents about 50%, neglecting undecomposed steam.

In accordance with this invention, the peculiar conditions which obtain underthese circumstances are-controlled and utilized to effect a different species of cracking opera tion; that is, one which produces primarily liquid hydrocarbons of low boiling point together with greater or less quantities of per inanent gas. K

In the accompanying drawing a combination water gas generator and oil cracking apparatus suitable for carrying out \the invention is shown in vertical section.

- In the drawing the numeral 5 designates a generator, which is charged with fuel (coal, coke, and the like), through charging door 6, the fuel bed being indicated by numeral. 7 Air for blasting is supplied through I valved pipe 8. Steam may be supplied below the fuel bed through valved steam pipe 9 or above it through tuyeres 10 supplied from valve controlled header 11. Valved gas outlets 12 and -13'from thegenerator 5 are provided above and below the fuel bed respectively, leading into the. inlet pipe 14: to the carburetor 15.. A valved pipe 16 for air also-opens into the carburetor inlet pipe 14-. The f'carburetor is provided internally.

ing introduced, if desired, through valved pipe 20. r

From the carburetor 15 an outlet pipe 21 leads into the superheater 22. A valved pipe 23 for supplying air may be tapped into the pipe 21. The superheater is provided internally with a checkerwork 24. Its top is closed by valve 25, directly below stack 26. An outlet pipe 27 provided with valve 28 leads to the scrubber or condenser 29, into which a spray of water may be introduced through spraypipe 30. From the condenser 29 a liquid overflow pipe 31 leads into a separator 32 below the liquid level therein, and

a valved gas pipe 33 leads from the con-' denser into the separator above the liquid level therein. The separator 32 is provided with a baflle or dam 33 extending below the liquid level in the separator. An overflow pipe 34 on the same side of'the dam 33' as the inlet of pipe 31 serves to discharge from the separator floating oil and a second overflow pipe 35 on the other side ofthe dam serves to discharge water. A gas outlet pipe 36 opens into the separator. The ordinary type of tubular condenser and wash box may be used instead of theconstruction above described.

The operation of this apparatus is as fol- A lows: The generator 5 is blasted with air through pipe 8, the depth of the fuel bed being so great that the combustion gases are more or less rich in carbon monoxid. These gases pass in series through the checkered spaces of the carburetor 15 and superheater 22. Air may be admitted either between the generator'5 and carburetor 15 through pipes 16 or between the carburetor 15 and superheater 22 through pipe 23 or both as required to produce the requisite amount of combustion to raise the temperatures of the brick fillings 17 and 24 to the desiredpoints. By varyrngthe air blast to regulate the CO content, and by control of auxiliary air, the temperatures may be regulated through a very wide range.

During this time the stack valve 25 is open and the valve 28 closed. When the fuel bed, carburetor and superheater have reached the operating temperatures, the air blast is shut off and valve 25 is closed and valve 28 opened. Steam'is admitted either to top or bottom of the generator, passing upior down as the case may be, to be decompbsed with the liberation of hydrogen and the simultaneous production of carbon monoxid. The

mixture of carbon monoxid, hydrogen and undecomposed steam passes from the generator 5-to the top of the carburetor 15, into which the heavy hydrocarbon oil is sprayed through pipe 18. The'oil is vaporized a1? most instantaneously and the vapors carried by the high velocityfcurrent of mixed carbon monoxid and hydro'genpass through the heated checkerworkof the carburetor and superheater.

I have discovered that b a proper control of the temperature 0 these temperatures to the capacity or volextent of the therma ume of the system and the rate of flow of the gases and vapors through it (these two last named conditions governing the time elementof the crackin the character and Tdecom osition of the oil may be @ontrolled to pro uce a substantial yield of light hydrocarbons suitable for motor fuel. At the same time, the process I of water gas manufacture and carburetion for which the apparatus is primarily designed, may be carried on without loss of efiiciency or capacity, the production of motor fuel being made an incident of the regularopand motor-fuel producing process is accomplished by-greatly reducing the amount and extent of oil decomposition, which may be efi'ected by lowering the temperature, by

reducing the time element or both; For convenience and efficiency, as well as for the sake of obtaining a better quality of gas, both of these factors should be altered. For example, in a typical straight water gas carbureting process, the gas oil vapors'are subjected to an average temperature of 1250 F. for a period of 4 seconds,

I giving a yield on the oilas follows:

Per cent Tar (heavy hydrocarbons) 15) Light hydrocarbons(practically all carr1ed off in the fixed gases) 10 Flxed gases 75 If the time element were substantially cut, by cutting out the s'uperheater, for example, or by reducing. the percentage of voids through a change inthe arrangement of the the carburetor and superheater, and a proper correlation of This modification 50% of low boilin checker brick, conditions remaining the same in other respects, the yield of fixed gas would be reduced and the yield of liquid hydrocarbons increased. Cor'respondingly, if the temperature of the carburetor and superheater were substantially reduced, all other conditions remainingthe same, a SlIIlllar result would be obtained. I prefer to adopt a combination of these methods, re-

ducing both the temperature and. the time.

The temperatures in the carburetor and suzperheater may suitably be between 850 F.

and 1050? F. At the, same time, I prefer to use a relatively large quantity of gas oil with reference to the water gas produced, so that the total volume of fixed oil gas pro- ,duced in each cycle of the apparatus is approximately the same as in normal water gasparbureting practice, and the thermal standard is properly maintained, say, between 450 and 650 B. t. u. per cubic foot. This is desirable in its effect of preserving the efliciency of the process as a producer of carbureted water gas, and also reacts favorably upon the time element, the increased volume of vapors and gas resulting from the introduction of the lar er volume of oil increasing the means ve ocity ,through the heated checker brick and pro ortionately reducing the time during whic any unit mass of oil is subjected to thermal decomposition. Furthermore, local overheating and excessive carbon deposits are avoided through the increased velocity and turbulence of the gas.

Under these conditions, the oil is decOmposed without substantial liberation or deposition of carbon, yielding from 25% to point liquid hydrocarbons, consisting o a -mixture of .benzol, toluol and xylols, together with saturated and unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons boiling below 450 F. At the same time there is formed from 25% to 40% of heavier by drocarbons,'the balance of the oil being con verted into permanent gas.

The oil supply is turned on shortly after the beginnin of the watergas make. and turned off be ore the end of the make period, in order to avoidwaste of oil or oil gas through the stack valve. A typical process in accordance with the present invention is as follows: r

Temperature fuel bed 1850 F.

Temperature carburetor 875 F. Temperaturesuperheater 925 F.

Cycle.

Water gas make 3 minutes, of which oil introduced 2% minutes; blast and purge 5% minutes; totalcycle-Q minutes.

Cubic ft. water gas formed per minute- 2500 for 3 minutes.

till

h it it Prod acts per cycle.

Gas oil introduced80 gals. (32 gals. per minute for 2 min.).

Total mixed gas produced-11,550 cu. ft. of 560 B. t. 11.

Total cracked oil produced-46.6 als., of which 24.4 gals. boils below 440 and 22.2 gals. above 440 F.

I claim:

The method of jointly manufacturing carbureted Water gas and volatile hydrocarbon motor fuel which consists in air blasting a bed of carbonaceous fuel to incandescence, passin the heated blast gases as produced over eat absorbent material, to heat the same to a temperature between 850 per minute and 1050 F., steam blasting the incandescent bed to produce Water gas, passing the heated water gas over the said heated material, injecting into the current of heated water gas a heavy hydrocarbon oil and thereby causing the oil in vaporized form to pass with the water gas over the said heated material, controlling the rate of flow of the mixed water gas and oil vapors, with ref.

erence to the temperature of the said heated material, so as to secure a production of fixed hydrocarbon gas not less than 15% nor more than 60% of the weight of oil injected, cooling the mixed gases and vapors to cause condensation of the vaporous portion thereof, separating the condensed oil includ ing volatile hydrocarbon motor fuel from the fixed gases, and controlling the amount of injected oil so that the said fixed gases shall have an average B. t. 11. value of not less than 450 nor more than '650 per cubic foot.

FRANK A; HOWARD. 

